Florida teen commits suicide online

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flutterbee

Guest
I am not posting the link because the video connected with the link actually shows part of the online footage and acts shocked that these kinds of things take place. What is wrong with them???

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida - A South Florida teen died of a lethal drug overdose in front of a live online webcam audience 12 hours after he started blogging about his plan to commit suicide, an investigator said Friday.

Abraham Biggs, 19, died Wednesday from a toxic combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, a drug used to treat insomnia and depression, said Wendy Crane, an investigator with the Broward County medical examiner's office. At least one of the drugs was prescribed to him and it's unclear how he got the others, Crane said.

Some of those watching encouraged Biggs, others tried to talk him out of it, and a few were debating whether the dose he took was lethal, Crane said. It's unclear how many people were watching.

Biggs stated his intentions on a forum at bodybuilding.com, where some users said they did not take him seriously because he had made previous statements about killing himself, Crane said. Biggs posted a link from there to Justin.tv, a site that allows users to broadcast live videos from their webcams.

Someone finally notified the moderator of the body building site's forum, who traced the teen's location to Pembroke Pines and called police, Crane said. Biggs was dead by the time they got to his house around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Crane said. He had started blogging at 3 a.m.

"He was just seen laying on the bed at that point," she said.

Condolences poured into his MySpace page, where the mostly unsmiling teen is seen posing in a series of pictures with various young women.

A woman who answered the phone at Biggs' home and identified herself as his sister said the family was still dealing with his death and declined immediate comment.

Biggs' father, Abraham Biggs Sr., told ABCNews.com that he was not home when his son died. He said his son struggled with depression and had been prescribed benzodiazepine to treat bipolar disorder. Biggs had been "doing better," his father said. "He was a good kid."

The elder Biggs said he was upset that Justin.tv streamed his son's suicide live.

"There seems to be a lack of control as to what people put out on the Internet," the elder Biggs said. "There's a lot of garbage out there that should not be, and unfortunately this was allowed to happen."

In a statement, Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel said: "We regret that this has occurred and want to respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time."

Messages left with the body building Web site were not immediately returned Friday. A spokesman said Pembroke Pines police are investigating but declined further comment.

Crane said she knows of at least one other case in which a South Florida man shot himself in the head in front of an online audience, although she didn't know how much viewers saw.

In Britain last year, a man hung himself while chatting online.
 

meowbunny

New Member
I hope this doesn't sound too callous but I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. For some, suicide is a very private act. For others, the more people involved, the better.

What is sickening is that people watched this for 12 hours and waited until it was too late to do anything about it before contacting anyone. I do understand not believing it at first but surely it was obvious long before he died that he needed help.

I am not going to blame a website for this. There are too many places he could have done the same thing and done it in a very public manner. The internet just makes the "public" worldwide rather than those in close proximity.

My heart goes out to his family. Suicide is tragic enough without knowing that people could have stopped it.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Very very sad. Unfortunately, there are a LOT of sites where things like this could and are sent out onto the internet. From there, it is almost impossible to control who sees it.

I hate to imagine ANYONE in my family seeing this, or being in a family where a loved one died in such a way.

My sincere condolences to the family. NO ONE deserves to lose a loved one this way.
 

klmno

Active Member
I saw this earlier today (the article- not the video) and I found it very disturbing. Imagine that family having to also deal with this being on the web and just being "out there" forever....and it not being stopped.
 
N

Nomad

Guest
Was this person encouraged to commit suicide? This is what I want to know.
 

ctmom05

Member
My condolences to the family of young Mr. Abraham Biggs - may he RIP.

I think the video clip has been made unavailable, which is as it should be.

Taking a closer look at mental health assessment and treatment - for the young and old alike is a task way past due.
 

Steely

Active Member
This story physically made me sick. :sick:(I guess especially given my son's suicidal tendencies as of late.)

The part that made me really, really sick is not that is was done online so much as that people watched this kid do it, egged him on to "take more pills", debated on whether he had the right amount of pills, and continued to just watch and blog as the video showed him in bed sleeping and then dying a couple of hours later. One blogger even commented, "well he is still breathing, whatever."

The kid was bi-polar and OD on his own medications.

in my opinion the people who blogged and egged him on, should be held legally responsible for contributing to his death.
Geesh this really, really makes me mad.:mad:
 
N

Nomad

Guest
This infuriates me.:angry-very:
What is WRONG with people today...old and young alike?
This past summer, our difficult child was depressed.
A "friend" encouraged her to kill herself and sent text messages detailing on how to do it.
difficult child ended up in a treatment facility. The girl's mother called the police...but of course, did not elaborate on the details of what pushed difficult child into the deep despair.
Again, what in the world is wrong with people?
It is sickening.:angry-very:
Prayers for this family. It is horrid.
I wonder if some realization will come to the people who watched and did nothing or worse...encouraged the behavior. One can only hope...but I think it is really not very likely. It is just horrid.:angry-very::sad-very:
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
Very sad for the family...my heart goes out to them.

I imagine that no one watching reacted because 1) they didn't believe it was real, or 2) they didn't want to accept any responsibility for anything that happened.

How many times are calls not made when people KNOW the woman next door is being beaten? As a society, I think we are losing our ability to care for and about each other.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
The headline made me so sick, I didn't even read the story. I was afraid I'd see the video.
Poor kid.
What an awful ordeal for the family, too.
Nomad, I cannot imagine ... that sounds a lot like that mom whose trial is going to jury today. On top of your dealing with-your daughter's depression, you're dealing with-anger toward an antagonist. It makes me furious just to hear about it!
I cannot imagine ... Sigh.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
WHAT WILL it take for our government to take a stand and start listening to us?
:(
Apparently not this - and that? Is very very disturbing.
 
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